There are known in the prior art unwinders for controlling the feeding of a web material toward a process station, for example, at which an operation such as coating or the like is to be performed on the web. More specifically, there are known in the prior art turret unwinders in which a pair of generally diametrically opposite pairs of roll supports respectively carry the roll being unwound and receive the next roll to be unwound. In such systems, means are provided for joining the leading end of the new roll to the trailing end of the expiring roll. In order that the process with which the unwinder is being used not be interrupted, it is desirable that the splicing operation of attaching the leading end of the new roll to the trailing end of the expiring roll be carried out while the web is moving at line speed. There are further known in the prior art off turret splicers for accomplishing this operation. One such splicing mechanism is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,151 issued Mar. 16, 1976.
While off turret splicers of the type described hereinabove operate satisfactorily in attaching the trailing end of the expiring web to the leading end of the new roll at line speed, they incorporate a number of disadvantages. First, they are off machine devices so that an installation utilizing such a device occupies a relatively large space. Such installations are expensive. The splicing operation in use of such devices can only be accomplished at one position of the turret with which the splicer is associated.